ST BONAVENTURE’S NEWSLETTER

A Community of Missionary Disciples With Contemplative Hearts

Last week I talked about how well things are going around here. Since then we have become more of a building site. Storm Callum tore some tiles off our roof and we have a big leak in one of those really difficult to reach places. We also have scaffolding up to deal with an historic leak on the front of the building. That said things are going really well around here. I mentioned last week that the Adoration and the Business Centre were the foundation stones on which the Parish is being built. One of the fruits of those two building blocks is our desire to reach out to our local community and social media users. In April we appointed Laura our Communications Coordinator and she has been doing a fantastic job. Laura has been bringing us into the twenty-first century and getting us on a number of social media platforms. She is building links with the local community and looking at improving our website. She is doing all this while producing a really good weekly newsletter. Catholic commu-nities find themselves in a difficult situation. The main stay of almost all Catholic communities are it’s much loved older members because they have a sense of commitment and a desire to offer financial support. These members of a Parish like to receive updates and information through the traditional means of paper. Younger members of Parish communities are often less committed to a Parish because of their circumstance in life and less able to contribute finan-cially too. They also don’t want information by paper but on social media where they spend most of their time. This poses a real challenge for any Catholic Parish, it needs to communicate on every level to a relatively small group of people. This is a very big challenge for us. Many groups that reach out to young people don’t worry about paper copy and groups that reach out to the elderly don’t worry about social media. We are involved in both. The importance of social media was brought home to me recently when I was watching ‘The Circle’. For those of you who missed it, The Circle was a reality TV show like Big Brother. But in The Circle the contestants were in separate apartments and only communicated via a messag-

ing app. It was awesome, I loved it. It highlighted for me that so many young people just live on social media. I am delighted with the progress Laura has made and in particular with our YouTube Chanel. If you haven’t seen it, look us up at St Bons Bristol and hit sub-scribe!

Fr Tom

Father Tom Talks—Vlog 3 is now live.

Egerton Road, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 8HP Tel: 0117 942 4448 bristol.stbonaventure@cliftondiocese.com

https://stbonsbristol.co.uk/

Parish Priest: Fr.Tom Smith Parish Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 9:30am-12:30pm.

St Bons Bristol

@stbonsbristol

@stbonschurch

St. Bonaventure’s Church Bristol

OT Week 29 21st October

2018

OUR PARISH Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration: There is a permanent slot available on Mondays 11am-12pm. Please phone Cecilia Browne 07812569631 if you are able to make a commitment to adoration or would like further information about what is involved. Church Repository: Karen Nelson and Neta Roylance-Smith will be resuming the church repository every first Sunday of the month after the 9.30am Family Mass. For the Christmas period it will be open weekly starting from November through December also after the 9.30am Family Mass. Second Collection: Sunday 21st October is World Mission Sunday. New Vlog on our YouTube Channel: Fr Tom talks about encountering the vast poverty in California and meets deported migrants dumped in Mexico from the US. He describes the privilege of being able to serve lunch to the migrants with the Sisters of Mother Teresa in Tijuana. He also discusses op-portunities here in Bristol to help those in need via local charities Beloved, 125 and Unseen. First Holy Communion Group: Fr Tom would like to have an initial meeting on Sunday 11 November or Sunday 18 November after 9.30 Mass to discuss next year’s FHC. Please let the Parish Administra-tor know as soon as possible which date is convenient.

OUR COMMUNITY 200 Club: Thank you to all members who have supported the 200 club during 2017/18, thus raising valuable funds for HCPT - The Children's Pilgrimage Trust. To continue as a member (or to join the club) and be included in the November draw, please forward £24 yearly subscription to Angela Parry c/o The Presbytery. Cheques should be made payable to St Bonaventures 200 Club. Angela will be at all Masses this weekend to collect your subscriptions. Numbers have dwindled over recent years and we now have less than 100 members. Please continue supporting us so we can continue sup-porting children with special needs. Thank you.

OTHER NEWS

Retreat Opportunities at Downside: 16 – 18 November 2018. The retreat is aimed at Catholic men, aged 18 – 35, who are considering the possibility of a vocation to priesthood or religious life. You may not be certain, but if you are wondering whether this might be for you, send an e-mail to Dom Anselm (downsidevocation@downside.co.uk) by 9th November 2018.

FINANCE & FABRIC

Thank you for your generosity! Offertory total for the w/e 14th Oct £509.10 £710 Standing Orders each week.

PLEASE PRAY FOR

Veronica.

Geoff Barrett.

Maria Alfano.

Jeff Barrett.

If you would like to be named in the Newslet-

ter, please contact the Parish Office to give

your consent so that it can be recorded.

SAINT OF THE WEEK

St John Paul II

St John Paul II was elect-ed Pope in 1978 and

was the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years. He promoted ecumenical

and interfaith initiatives, especially the 1986 Day

of Prayer for World Peace in Assisi.

WHAT’S ON?

October Month of Our Lady: Octo-

ber is dedicated to the remembrance

of the Blessed Virgin Mary ‘Our Lady

of the Rosary’. We will be saying the

Rosary after Mass each weekday.

Book of Remembrance: From the 1st November this will be made availa-ble for us to record the names of those who have died whom we hold dear. All Souls Mass: Friday 2nd Novem-ber 7.00pm. St Bons Community Quiz Night: No-

vember 16th 7:30pm at St Bons Pri-

mary School. Why not come along

and join us for our annual Quiz Night

full of fun and laughter! There will be

a bar and snacks for your refresh-

ment. Teams of no more than 6 peo-

ple at £10 per team.

Remembrance Mass: Friday 23rd November 7.00pm. For all those who have died since November 2017. Mass & Annual Blessing of the Cem-etery: Wednesday 28th November 9.15am. Mass with the Anointing of the Sick: Sunday 2nd December - 2.00pm fol-lowed by Senior Citizens' Christmas Party in the Presbytery. Christmas Carol Service: Date for

your Diary! Friday 14th December at

7pm, followed by Mince pies in the

Presbytery. More details to follow.

Children's Christmas Nativity: 22nd

December 2pm followed by children

party afterwards.

NEWS FROM ST BON’S SCHOOL

We are all settling in well to the new school year – it is lovely to see our older children keeping an eye out for the little Reception pupils. We have identified six themes inspired by the Commandments that we would like to explore this year – our theme this term is Love. As part of this, we are collecting dried and tinned foods for Bristol’s homeless charities to show ‘Love to our neighbour’. In September, we held our first open

evening for prospective parents which was well attended along with two open days. We have also been busy produc-ing a new Prospectus highlighting our emphasis on edu-cating the whole child – if you would like a copy, please do contact the school office or check the school website. We were thrilled to be able to host Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire on 18th September. The year 4 chil-dren had an opportunity to put questions to Ms Debbonaire who was very impressed with the welcome she received and the nature of the questions asked. Many of you will know Mrs Katie Meucci who has worked in the school for over 30 years. We had the pleasure of cele-brating Mrs Meucci’s 80th birthday with her here in school – she was completely overwhelmed by the songs the children sang to her, the love she received and the generous gifts from school families and staff. Finally, we had our Section 48 Diocesan Inspection last week having had our previous inspection in 2013. I am delighted to say that the inspection went very well and we were really pleased to receive over a hundred parent / carer question-naires back from our school community. I will let you know the result in my next update in Term 2.

With best wishes, Lucille Charles.

LITURGY SCHEDULE

Ordinary Time Week 29 (Year B)

Sunday 21st October 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

9.30am Mass Chris Grealley R.I.P. 7.00pm Mass Bill & Marie Louise Brodnax

R.I.P.

Monday 22nd October Weekday in Ordinary Time

9.00am Morning Prayer 9.15am Mass Arsenio & Rosa Coiro R.I.P.

Tuesday 23rd October

Weekday in Ordinary Time 9.00am Morning Prayer

9.15am Mass Maria & Stan Rydwan R.I.P.

Wednesday 24th October Weekday in Ordinary Time

9.00am Morning Prayer 9.15am Mass Giuseppe & Rosa Coiro R.I.P.

9:45am Holy Hour

Thursday 25th October Weekday in Ordinary Time

No Mass

Friday 26th October Weekday in Ordinary Time

7.00pm Mass Nelia Da Costa Int

Saturday 27th October Weekday in Ordinary Time

6.00pm Mass Deceased Members of the Mad-dalena Family

Sacrament of Reconciliation:

Saturday 5.00pm-5.40pm

Please be aware of the Winter Mass time change:

Sunday 28th October (when the clocks change) from 7.00pm to 6.00pm.

YEAR OF MISSION

During this Year of Mission, Fr Christopher from the Diocese’s Department for Adult Educa-tion and Evangelisation shares these thoughts with us:

29TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Jesus, in Mark’s Gospel, reveals himself as the one who serves, as the one who reaches out in tenderness, as the one who lowers himself and empties himself out of love for others. It’s Jesus’ words and his actions that reveal to the disciples the need, not so much to be the first or the greatest or the most powerful or the best or the most successful, but to encounter God in others and serve God, love God, in them. The disciples find that a hard lesson to learn but they have Je-sus, not just to instruct them, but to show them. The cross reveals that service and that emptying in action. If we want to be considered great it’s not because we have trampled on everyone to get where we feel we need to be; it’s that we have loved and loved and loved…giving every-thing.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

A taste of what’s available in the Repository!

TWEET OF THE WEEK